


The Cuddle Challenge

by MsThunderFrost



Series: Death, Blood, and Life [2]
Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, Fluff, Good Parent Thanatos (Hades Video Game), Good Parent Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Hades A+ Parenting (Hades Video Game), Kid Fic, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27412411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsThunderFrost/pseuds/MsThunderFrost
Summary: Just a sweet little fic inspired by the Cuddle Challenge on TikTok, where parents cuddle their toddlers and record their responses.--Delphine blinks her wide, golden eyes at him, “Papa, you’re back!” Her excited exclamation dies down into a sort-of whisper-shout as she looks down at Thanatos, “Shh… we has to be quiet. Daddy is sleeping.”“I’m not sleeping…” Thanatos shuts down the idea almost immediately. The way his eyes are drooping, however, tells another story. “What’re you doing here, Zagreus? Shouldn’t you still be—,” the rest of the question gets caught in Thanatos’ throat as he realizes what it means for Zagreus to be here with them now.Thankfully, Delphine isn’t quite able to read between the lines. The toddler pats the mattress to her left, “Come, read with us! Daddy is having me look over Uncle Hypnos’ lists. He… He says that, if I can learn to make sense of Uncle’s handwriting, I can read anything.”
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Series: Death, Blood, and Life [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2002786
Comments: 8
Kudos: 179





	The Cuddle Challenge

“Cute” is not a term that Zagreus thought he would ever use when describing anything in the Underworld.

But _this_ … he bites down on his knuckle in an effort to keep from letting out an _incredibly_ undignified squeal, a few beads of blood bubbling to the surface where his teeth are cutting into the skin. Their daughter, Delphine, is curled up with Than on Zagreus’ bed, the god of death’s head resting on her little lap. Delphine is combing her little fingers through Than’s short, silver-white hair, her mouth moving in a slow, over-dramatic manner as she attempts to sound out the complicated words in the book that they are reading together. Delphine is still learning how to read, but she’s made significant strides under Nyx and Thanatos’ supervision.

This isn’t the first time that he’s found them in such a position. But no matter how many times he sees them cuddled up together, the scene never fails to make his heart skip a beat. Thanatos is such a good father—even if his work means that he’s away from the House more often than not, he always does his best to make time for them to spend together (there are times when his visits are so terribly short, he barely has the chance to ghost a kiss over Zagreus’ lips before departing—but he’ll always have time to braid Delphine’s hair, or read a story with her, or listen to the latest song that she’d composed on the lyre…).

Delphine blinks her wide, golden eyes at him, “Papa, you’re back!” Her excited exclamation dies down into a sort-of whisper-shout as she looks down at Thanatos, “Shh… we has to be _quiet_. Daddy is _sleeping_.”

“I’m not sleeping…” Thanatos shuts down the idea almost immediately. The way his eyes are drooping, however, tells another story. “What’re you doing here, Zagreus? Shouldn’t you still be—,” the rest of the question gets caught in Thanatos’ throat as he realizes what it means for Zagreus to be here with them now.

Thankfully, Delphine isn’t quite able to read between the lines. The toddler pats the mattress to her left, “Come, read with us! Daddy is having me look over Uncle Hypnos’ lists. He… He says that, if I can learn to make sense of Uncle’s handwriting, I can read _anything_.”

Zagreus purses his lips, “Don’t you think it’s a little morbid, using the ledgers of the dead to teach our daughter to read?” Not that there’s much else around the House to read, but still—

“Aww, why? I think it’s cool!” She says. “It’s only hard when I hafta read somethin’ from _this_ part here.” She points to a column that’s been messily marked ‘allergies’. No wonder— _he_ doesn’t think that he can read half of those words.

Zagreus narrows his eyes at the scroll, “What even _is_ that word?”

Thanatos doesn’t even bother to look at the word, his eyes fluttering closed. He says the word perfectly, before adding, “It’s some kind of pain reliever. I believe that they had some orthopedic issues.” 

“Ortho—,” Delphine wrinkles her nose, and doesn’t even bother trying to pronounce the rest of the word.

Thanatos hums, “It means that there was something going on with their bones.”

“Oh.” Delphine nods, as if this makes the upmost sense. Setting Hypnos’ ledger down, she curls her arms around Thanatos’ neck and lays her head on top of his, “You’re so smart, Daddy! I love you!”

Thanatos’ eyes widen. He’s still not quite comfortable with verbal displays of affection—or physical displays of affection, for that matter—but he’s getting better, if the fact that he’d been willing to lay there with his head in her lap is any indication. He wishes that there was some way for him to memorialize this scene forever. Delphine is completely oblivious to the myriad of emotions playing out on her father’s face, content to wiggle her bare feet back and forth and comb her fingers through his short hair. Honestly, Zagreus is a little jealous. He wants in on that prime snuggling action. In fact, he makes his way over to the bed, cuddling up to them on the other side.

“What are you—?” Thanatos makes an irritated noise in the back of his throat when Zagreus moves his head to the side to make a little bit more room for his own. “I was _comfortable_.”

“You’re hogging her lap.” Zagreus pouts, “I want cuddles, too.” He knows that he’s being petulant, but damn it, he wants cuddles too! And baby cuddles are _best_ cuddles, even if their daughter isn’t _technically_ a baby anymore. And _that_ realization makes tears burn in the corners of his eyes.

“You can cuddle up to her side. You don’t need her lap.” Thanatos makes himself comfortable again, carefully sounding out a word that Delphine has been stumbling over. She repeats it back to him choppily, but the pronunciation is decidedly better.

“Why do _you_ get her lap?” Even though he continues to fuss, he cuddles up to her side, shifting Delphine and Thanatos just enough for Delphine to rest her head of silver-white hair on his chest.

“Because Daddy was _sleeping_.” Delphine says again. Thanatos rolls his eyes.

“I will concede that I _may_ have been resting my eyes for a brief moment.” Thanatos says, “But I was _not_ sleeping—Death doesn’t sleep.” And… Zagreus doesn’t know how accurate that statement is, but he concedes that he’s never actually seen Thanatos sleeping before.

“Maybe that’s why Daddy is so cranky all the time—he’s missing out on all of his beauty sleep.”

Zagreus snorts. Than rolls his eyes, “Cranky? Cranky?” Quick as a flash, Thanatos initiates a vicious tickle fest that has Delphine _howling_ in laughter, the scrolls tumbling off of her lap as she twists and writhes—

“Ahahahaha!” She comes within centimeters of headbutting Zagreus as she’s overcome by a fit of giggles, “Daddy! Daddy, that _tickles_!”

Zagreus whips his head out of the line of fire with a soft chuckle, “I do believe that that’s the point, princess.”

Once the tickle fest is over, it takes a moment for Delphine to get her breathing under control. The little girl is smiling from ear to ear, her tanned cheeks flushed and her eyes bright as she calls Thanatos ‘silly’—again, yet another word that he never thought he would hear in conjunction with _anything_ having to do with the Underworld. Or with Thanatos, for that matter. Thanatos raises a brow, before scooping their daughter up into his arms and dipping her, causing her to let out another delighted squeal as her long, silver-white hair tumbles out of the careful braid that Than had placed it in and spills off the side of the bed. Gods, but her laughter is absolutely _infectious_ —

He never thought that he would be a father. In fact, he’d been terrified of the thought of bringing a child into a world that he so hated—if he hated it down there enough to risk dying several times over just for the _chance_ to escape, it was only a matter of time until his child felt the same. He never wanted his child to feel stifled by the four walls of the House. He never wanted them to feel like they weren’t good enough, weren’t _smart_ enough, to be a productive member of the House. But then, he’d met Delphine and everything had felt… right? It sounds so cliché, but… he really cannot imagine what his world would be like without her in it.

Something in Than’s expression shifts, and Delphine’s face falls, “No… Don’t leave us, not yet. Papa just came in—we haven’t had the chance to all cuddle together yet.”

Thanatos frowns, “I would stay if I could, darling. But there are souls that need tending to… you’ll understand when you start to feel the call yourself.” Zagreus frowns—what call? He feels like this is something that Than should’ve mentioned to him, “You _are_ Life Incarnate, after all. You need to breathe life into the mortals—,”

Thanatos places Delphine back onto the bed, between himself and Zagreus. Zagreus reaches up to tuck a strand of silver-white hair behind her ear, “She’ll… leave for the surface, too?” He… feels like he’s forgotten how to breathe.

“Hmm…” his lover nods, “Perhaps with less frequency than I, but… thus is the circle of life, Zagreus. She _is_ Life Incarnate, after all. Eventually, she will be tasked with assuming that role.”

“Oh…” He knew that Delphine would leave him—leave _them_ —one day. He just hadn’t thought that that day would come so soon—

Delphine is absolutely oblivious to the seriousness of the ongoing conversation between her parents. Zagreus is thankful for it. He wonders if there was ever a time where his lord father looked on him in anything other than contempt—whether his father ever saw him as anything more than a burden that he was forced to bear. Hades didn’t have a direct role in his upbringing; he left a great deal of the actual parenting to Nyx, intervening only when necessary (as in… to tell him that he would be training under Achilles once he was old enough to properly wield a sword, to give him the bare minimum of training necessary to be able to work in the administrative chamber)…

“When Daddy comes back,” Delphine muses, waving her little feet back and forth, “I’m gonna know _this many_ new words.” She holds up her hands, showing him all ten fingers. “I’ll even be able to use them in _sentences_!”

Than gives the little girl a wry smile, “I’ll hold you to that. Don’t let your Papa teach you any bad words.”

“I would _never_.” Zagreus looks positively _aghast_. He is absolutely going to ignore the fact that Delphine’s first word was ‘bastard’ (which she may or may not have learned from hearing him talk shit about his father while training). “What do you take me for?”

“I’ve known you nearly all your life, Zagreus.” He says, as if this answers Zagreus’ earlier question. Then, he turns to Delphine, “I’ll be back before you can miss me, so be a good girl for Papa while I’m gone, alright?”

“I’ll be the bestest!” Delphine declares happily, before pressing a big, wet kiss on Than’s cheek. Than’s eyes widen a bit, before he reaches out to ruffle Delphine’s already wild hair.

“Why don’t you read with Papa for a little while—show him how much you’ve learned?”

He doesn’t have to ask Delphine twice. Zagreus lets out a grunt as the toddler plops herself down on top of him, opening up the ledger to where she and Thanatos had left off. Thanatos, now free, takes a moment to smooth the rumples out of his clothing, before swooping down to press a ghost of a kiss to Zagreus’ lips. The kiss carries the promise of a swift, safe return… and is filled with so much love, it makes Zagreus heart swell to the point where it feels like it might burst. Thanatos disappears in a flash of soft green light, leaving him alone with their overly-excited toddler. Delphine takes his arms and wraps them around her waist, making herself comfortable on his lap.

“This lady’s name is Peer-rah.” Delphine enunciates carefully, pointing her little finger at the name ‘Pyrrah’. “She died of being very old. Daddy bringed her in yesterday morning.” She smiles brightly, proud of her achievement.

“That’s good, baby. That’s really good.” Zagreus nuzzles his cheek up next to hers, his mismatched eyes following the movement of her finger as she continues on to read the next line.

Cute, indeed.


End file.
